Common Sense Solutions - Starting Now

Benefits of Intentional Community

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Create A New Traditional Village

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"Some people call it a return to the best of small-town America. Others say it´s like a traditional village or the close-knit neighborhood where they grew up, while futurists call it an altogether new response to the social, economic and environmental realities of the 90´s. They´re all right."

The above quote is from the website of the community profiled here, the Jamaica Plains community in Boston.

Co-housing can solve so many problems at once. You get to really share life with your neighbors. You get access to plenty of communal space. You can share tools, meals, cars and all kinds of resources - most importantly, the security and social ties of a community.

Many people who just want to end the isolation that single life, or even family life can mean in a conventional environment. Many remember the ease with which they shared life with friends as a child, going from house to house, dropping in on people casually, sharing toys and feeling...supremely secure.

Intentional communities are created by people who get together to create a social structure based on their needs and vision. They often look for land to buy together and start from there.

This community shares a dining hall for dinners, parties and social events, a movie room, a toddler room, a kids room, a large office space, meeting rooms, a laundry room, craft studios, a communal kitchen and a bike storage space.

They also have an organic garden, and are organizing their own car share co op.

How much would you have to spend or really, WASTE to build and maintain all of that on your own?

--Bibi Farber

For more info on the Jamaica Plains Community, visit: www.jpcohousing.org